Border Line: Teetering Tensions on the Mexico Border

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Some three million illegals likely sneaked across the border between Mexico and Arizona last year. In their way are a few tens of thousands of ranchers and other Arizonans, Americans who are growing angry at the crimes and hassles these illegals inflict on them as they sweep in from Mexico.

Cochise County Concerned Citizens founder Larry Vance said, “We’ve been robbed, our dogs have been poisoned, our house broken into.”

Glenn Spencer, founder of the American Border Patrol, remarked, “We’ve had murders, mayhem.”

Chris Simcox, Civil Homeland Defense founder, added, “Property damage, cut fences, homes being shot up.”

And rancher Mark Knaeble, who lives on the border, said, “You can see how hard it is to walk back and forth into Mexico.”

The border is in Knaeble’s backyard.

In recent years, Knaeble was robbed “. . . nevery 60 to 90 days,” he said. “Something would disappear, usually tools from the shop, or they would break into the house.”

Vance said, “Rape, robbery, beatings, it’s a common occurrence right here.”

Vance lives within eyeshot of the border, and sometimes videotapes the illegals pouring in. They frequently target a little old lady living near him.

“She’s been robbed, the last I heard, 57 times,” Vance said.

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“There was a large group of Middle Eastern men who were captured by the Border Patrol in the Chiricahua Mountains back in June,” said Simcox. The men spoke Farsi, the language of Iran.

Simcox added, “The media and the Border Patrol covered it up by saying that they were a tribe of Huahacan Indians who didn’t really speak Spanish, and that the Border Patrol agents were confused. They were met at the headquarters in Wilcox by federal agents, who quickly whisked the group away.”

Vance showed us a Muslim prayer rug found right near his house. He said, “And it shows there’s not just Mexicans coming across there, ‘cause I don’t think there’s many Muslims in Mexico.”

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